KHARTOUM, DECEMBER 13: Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir declared a state of emergency from Monday and dissolved parliament following a mounting power struggle with parliament speaker Hassan al-Turabi. In a speech on state television late Sunday, General Beshir said he could no longer tolerate rival power bases here after a months-long rift with his former ally who is also secretary general of the ruling National Congress.Beshir, who was wearing traditional Sudanese robes, "decreed a state of emergency for a period of three months starting Monday" to help the country "face external plots" and stand firm on the home Front. Appearing composed, he said the decision had been taken because of the "duplication of state institutions" and he called on Sudanese to elect a new parliament without setting a date for elections.Under Turabi's leadership, parliament had moved to amend the constitution to provide for a prime minister accountable to MPs and direct gubernatorial elections in a move widely seen as an attempt to curb Beshir's powers. A crucial parliamentary debate on the issue had been scheduled for Tuesday.The head of state also announced the suspension of four clauses of the constitution which focus on procedures for nominating governors to federal states. He said that the governors currently in place will continue to assume their duties. The situation seemed normal overnight Sunday, with police on the main roads proceding with the usual checks amid a de facto night-time curfew that has been in place since Beshir took power in a 1989 bloodless coup."Things are calm in the streets and there are no troop movements in the capital," Ghazi Soliman, head of the Opposition Democratic Forces Front, told AFP. "Beshir appears to have the situation in the country in hand." Soliman, who is also a lawyer, said Beshir's move appears to have worked without strong-arm measures being necessary against Turabi, who "seems free to move around as he wants.""With the Army holding real power in Sudan," Beshir appears to have won decisively in the conflict with Turabi and his followers in the ruling National Congress party, Ghazi said.Last month the President cancelled a visit to South Africa after a four-hour meeting with Turabi failed to persuade his rival to give ground on the amendments. As well as installing a prime minister, Turabi has also pressed for the authorisation of political parties ahead of next March's elections.Beshir in principle does not contest the desirability of such a move, but a European diplomat said he feared the development of a parliamentary system which could only benefit Turabi and reduce the control of the military. The two men also clashed over the leadership of the ruling party, a battle, eventually won by Turabi in October.Beshir outlawed all political parties after the 1989 coup. But while the other main parties went into Opposition, eventually taking up arms against the regime, Turabi's Islamists gave him their backing.The Arab and Islamist military government in Khartoum has been at war for 16 years with factions in the mainly animist and Christian South, although Arab and African efforts are underway to organize a peace conference.
